Spies (Yamaha) clocks quickest time in Monza testing
On his first visit to Monza, Ben Spies (Yamaha World Superbike) clocked the quickest time in two days of testing at the high-speed circuit in preparation for the race in May. In ideal conditions Spies set a time of 1 minute 45.3 seconds to head the two factory Ducati Xerox riders, Noriyuki Haga and Michel Fabrizio.
2008 Monza winner Max Neukirchner (Suzuki Alstare) and Britain's Tom Sykes (Yamaha World Superbike) were the only other riders to get under the 1'46" mark.
Karl Muggeridge (Celani Race) had a positive test on his Suzuki GSX-R1000, the Australian posting the sixth quickest time, ahead of Yukio Kagayama (Suzuki Alstare) and the BMW Motorrad duo of Ruben Xaus and Troy Corser, who were still well over a second off the leading pace. The Australian rider suffered a crash and preferred to sit out the rest of the session.
Test-riders Alex Hoffman and Steve Martin also notched up some valuable track time for Aprilia and BMW respectively but no times were issued either for the German or the Australian.
Unofficial times: 1. Ben Spies (Yamaha) 1'45"3; 2. Noriyuki Haga (Ducati) 1'45"5; 3. Michel Fabrizio (Ducati) 1'45"6; 4. Max Neukirchner (Suzuki) 1'45"8; 5. Tom Sykes (Yamaha) 1'45"8; 6. Karl Muggeridge (Suzuki) 1'46"0; 7. Yukio Kagayama (Suzuki) 1'46"3; 8. Ruben Xaus (BMW) 1'46"8; 9. Troy Corser (BMW) 1'47"1
